章 62: It's Her

The ground continued to shake while the nurses and doctors were evacuating the hospital. Even if it was hard to move everyone, they had to evacuate the entire building.

The security personnel didn't waste time in helping, but they couldn't stop everyone from escaping their grasps and going to the source of the explosion.

Luca bypassed them quickly while being dragged by Caseus again. They were headed to the ICU ward, which scared Luca.

Did Bomberman attack while Noah was still recovering?

"He's here! He's here!" Luca noticed Long Neck as it appeared next to him, running like a small child.

"What's happening?"

"Someone brought strange things inside the hospital and wanted to attack a doctor! He was putting the entire hospital in danger!" Long Neck seemed to be keeping an eye on Noah from afar, but it suddenly showed up to seek Luca.

This had made Luca frown. "Where's Noah?"

Long Neck sobbed. "He went to confront the bomber."

"Dammit!"

The hunter and the two familiars raced to the ICU wards and felt the presence of a witch in the area. It wasn't Noah, but someone else.

Luca frowned as he couldn't fully determine the strength of this witch. It seemed that the magic core was missing. However, without one, how could they use magic?

That was when it hit him. The agents of SCC didn't have magic cores, but they could still wield magic. It was because of their modified witch tech! Someone brought their modified witch tech to wreak havoc? Why?

"Caseus, can you tell if your brethren are engaged in a fight?"

Caseus nodded, but Luca didn't know if it was a confirmation that the other hellhounds were fighting the witch—no, it wasn't a witch! It was just a random person operating witch tech.

"Hunter! They moved!"

Just then, they heard a loud bang like a floor just gave up. Luca ran faster and saw that dust smoke was covering the further halls. He swiped the light from his ring across his eyes, and goggles drew along his face.

His vision wasn't impaired by the dust, but he still held on his nose and mouth to keep out smoke.

Long Neck coughed out as it joined Luca and Caseus in locating the enemy. Even if it was just lagging behind them, it was trying to make itself helpful. It then saw the hole at the ceiling. "There! Up there!"

Caseus simply jumped up while Luca bit his lip. He couldn't just jump up that high. He should find the stairs or think of a way. However, Long Neck grabbed onto Luca with both arms before shooting its head up. It bit onto something and propelled its body up to reach the higher floor.

"That was a weird experience," Luca murmured as he actually found the familiar with use. Normally, level zeroes were nothing but décor or powerless spirits created on a demon's whim. For Long Neck to actually think fast…

"You're a familiar of a witch before?"

"Y-Yes… but there's no time to talk about it." Long Neck suddenly ducked and screamed.

Luca used his right arm, shielded by light, to block the bullet that was aimed at him. He then moved his hand and saw a crazed man firing at him with a shotgun.

That was the same suspicious man as earlier. Luca should have known.

"You! Stop your madness!"

The man only growled in anger and fired several shells at Luca. However, Caseus jumped from a side and bit onto the man's arm and gun. With a somersault, he quickly severed the man's arm!

A scream rang out as the man cried over the loss of the arm and the gun. He then got down on his knees and was almost attacked by Caseus again. Luca just dashed in time to block Caseus's attack. The hellhound steered his body away, not harming either humans.

"You're not dying!" Luca grabbed the man and used his light of grace to cauterize the severed end. "You're still going to jail!"

"Let me die!" The crazed man pushed off Luca, but the hunter caught his other hand and twisted it broken. The man cried out louder, knowing that he was in pain and yet would not die. "Monsters! You're all monsters!"

"Implicating the innocent is what monsters do, and you are undeniably guilty." Luca huffed and panned his sight to the side. His eyes widened as he saw Noah there, keeping a person down and shielding them with his weakened body.

Long Neck came out of nowhere and went to the crazed man. It used its neck to subdue the hostile while Caseus crouched nearby, visibly warning the crazed man.

Luca then left the man in their custody while he moved to see Noah.

Noah smiled at him shortly before gesturing to the doctor he was protecting. "That guy went after my doctor. I just needed to act."

"It's okay, it's expected of us. Is he hurt?"

"No, but he's unconscious."

The witch then looked at the hostile man. "He's not acting alone. I was fighting a demon earlier before you came. It seemed that they were trying to blow up any attack started and initiated by humans.

"His gun is witch tech. Is that from the leaked designs?"

"I have yet to know. Our watches are down. It seemed like an EMF went off earlier." Luca attended to his smartwatch, but it was still dead. "We have to make sure these couldn't be disrupted so easily."

Noah nodded before leaning his head against Luca's chest. Luca was even surprised, but he could feel the heat coming from Noah's forehead. Moving around was bad for him, and yet he…

A static sound came from the smartwatch… before Theresa's voice sounded. "Luca? What happened? Something exploded in the hospital?"

"Yes, but we subdued the culprit. I'm sorry we can't keep it down…"

"…got that." Theresa couldn't say anything. It wasn't okay, but it was also a problem for SCC as a whole. It's just that…

Allan leaned down to take over Theresa's headphones. He eyed at the feed displayed by the smartwatch, showing Luca's face. "What about the people? Do we have casualties?"

Luca was surprised to hear Allan's voice. He then looked around, unsure if people had died. Outside, he had already helped a few injured.

"I sent my dogs to clear the area as soon as possible. They didn't report anyone dying." Noah huffed as he was still feverish. Knowing that he wasn't visible in the feed, he didn't even move from Luca's chest. He just glanced at the broken watch on his wrist.

"Noah?" Allan was surprised to hear Noah's voice so close to Luca's smartwatch. However, he didn't make anything big out of it. "I see. We already sent rescue to the place. The other agents should find you. Keep the hostile under your gaze at all times."

Theresa was surveying the remaining cameras and feeds of the other agents helping the people evacuate. "Sir, we're detecting a level three magic surge somewhere in the hospital. I can't locate it properly. It seemed to be phasing in and out of the plane rapidly."

Allan looked at her before speaking to Luca again. "Luca, there's still a level three magic surge in the place. You have to—"

"Ah, it's her!" Theresa didn't mean to scream, but she was surprised to see someone break into the window of a floor.

Alessa showed up and attacked something the plain camera couldn't see. In the end, she quickly got rid of the demon Noah was fighting earlier. Blood was on the floor, and she stomped at something that gave off a burst of light. After that, she only flipped her hair and walked off.

Theresa then caught Allan looking at her screen. She stayed quiet as she did her best to follow her tracks.

Afterward, Alessa met up with another blonde woman with short wavy hair. The other woman had casual clothes on and was on her portable laptop as they walked. They seemed to be talking, and so Theresa tried to hack into the mike of the portable laptop.

However, the other woman only looked up at a wall camera and smiled.

By then, a static noise whirred into their headphones. Soon, an unfamiliar voice echoed. "Hello, we got rid of another demon for you guys. Aren't you a little grateful?"

Luca, who managed to hear the voice as well, gasped. "Isla?"

"Oh, yes, sweet little brother, where art thou?"

"…"

"Nevermind, I already tracked your tracker." Isla chuckled and walked with Alessa to the place.

Luca looked down at Noah who was already asleep. He then looked at Caseus who had gotten agitated. Even Long Neck was trembling while holding onto the struggling crazed man. Footsteps came to the hallway, and Alessa walked in alone.

She then took out a tranquilizer gun and shot the crazed man. As soon as the crazed man was hit, Long Neck let go and hurried behind Luca. Caseus had hopped in front of the two males as well, wary of letting her closer.

However, Alessa only huffed as she didn't take the hellhound seriously. As long as Mephistopheles wouldn't appear, she had no fears.

"Come with me." Alessa stood behind Luca, looking down at the feed of the watch and at the witch shoved against her brother. It was undeniable that her eyes were filled with confusion and hate.

"I will, after making sure the culprit is secured." Luca couldn't look straight at Alessa; he even switched off the call and covered the smartwatch with his hand. "I hate to make you wait longer."

Alessa then looked at Caseus. 'A hellhound… is this witch connected to what happened last year? Why would Father think Asmodeus is involved when he's a witch of Belphegor?

'Did… Asmodeus get involved with Luca's mission?'